First Mainline Through the Pennines

As a sequel to their best-selling Railways and the Dales followed by Railways and the Lake District, the authors have decided to celebrate four decades of working together in a book that is both informative and richly illustrated. Gavin selected his favourite photographs of the first mainline through the Pennines linking Lancashire with Yorkshire. David then wrote an evocative text emphasising its origins and how it has changed down the years. The result is a nostalgic portrayal of a pioneer railway that pierced the mountain chain by what was initially the world’s longest railway tunnel. It shows how it had also to force a passage through steep-sided valleys already choked with mills, chimneys belching smoke and an adjoining canal. Apart from the mainline engineered by George Stephenson, coverage includes its later offshoot to Halifax and Bradford as well as the steeply graded branch from Todmorden over Copy Pit summit to Burnley.